One Bone-Tired Soul
by Riley Killer
Summary: "When I fell, I thought it was the perfect day to die." A new protagonist enters the Underground, but she seems more a skittish, reluctant traveler than the much needed Hero. Perhaps a few Monsters can help her turn it around and show her that sometimes, all it takes is just one tired soul that can persevere, in order to break down Barriers and corral in homicidal ten year olds.
1. Prologue

_So, I've recently fallen back into Undertale readings and looking through the stories on here, gained some inspiration for a new tale. I took down one of my old ones and may be doing a rewrite of it here soon; but until then! Here's a crack at a fresh story!_

 _ **Warning:** This Prologue surrounds itself in a suicide attempt, anxiety, and extreme depression. _

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Undertale, and only the Original Character Des is of mine.

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 **Prologue**

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To tell you the truth, when I fell, I thought it was the perfect day to die.

Sometimes, an absolute overwhelming feeling comes over me, and the abyss that's the future seems so vast and so wide that all I feel is absolute terror while I stare into it. How was it going to work out? Would I manage to survive? Would I come out at the end successful or would only more hard times and pain be ahead?

An ever-engulfing sense of anxiety would follow, and as such, I'd sit sweat covered and trembling after waking up from bed. Terrified.

This had been going on for seven years; starting on the day I turned 20. Now cresting the better part of 'late 20's' and nearing ever closer to being 30, I had grown pretty fucking tired of it. I know what you're thinking, 'Christ, hasn't this chick thought about talking to a shrink before? Or maybe, 'I don't know Dez, 7 years of being terrified of things you can't control? Ever thought of medication?'

The answer to both of those is yes, and further extrapolation? Neither helped. The feeling of talking about the future, planning; only for plans to get derailed made it all feel useless; that I was helpless even, and that the struggle wasn't even worth the try. The feeling of being in a drugged haze and numb, snuffed out any feeling at all, made what was killing one problem start up several others. Perhaps it wasn't the right medication, perhaps it wasn't the right psychologist; or maybe I'm just permanently fucked up.

But after going through several talking heads and colored pills; several burned bridges and watching several retreating backs... the ever crushing self-doubt and lack of self esteem, I felt I had nothing. That honestly, there was nothing. There was no way out; and that the future would just be more of the same. Truthfully, I should have checked myself in on a one-way ticket to the happy farm and provided my straightjacket size at the door.

Instead, there I had been, standing on the edge of a hole in Mount Ebott. An endless tunnel with no foreseeable bottom staring back, and for once, it was a perfect day. The sun was shining and the world felt like it hit pause on its ever-daily rotation. The soft sounds of the birds chirping and a cornucopia of floral and earthy scents filled my nose when I breathed in. Everything in my head stopped, and for once, I was there in that very moment.

It seemed important, like the heart racing in my chest should have bothered me. Like the clamminess of my palms should have been a screaming warning sign; but for that moment, I felt as though I was on permanent mute, standing behind a glass as I stared up at the beautiful world around me and lifted my foot.

Mount Ebott had a lot of myths around it you know, and I thought that it would be to my advantage. Mythical wars, monsters, people- particularly children went missing all the time, never to be found when they entered the mountain.

That? That sounded like heaven. I didn't want to be found either.

So, with little thought at all; and ignoring as the world around me seemed to slowly come to a halt- I took my first step forward.

I remember my stomach dropping out from under me and the realization of what I had done hitting me like a speeding train. What had been blissfully numb became that of ice filling my veins as the abyss swallowed me. My thoughts began to churn. The psychological glass I was behind shattered as I plummeted down.

Rather than look to the dark I was being swallowed by; I stared up to the light hole as it started to race away, becoming smaller, and smaller. I wouldn't find it odd until later the thought that filled my head though; as the wind rushing by made my eyes sting and tear, _I should have tried again._

But then with that thought, my world went dark, and mute again.


	2. CH 1: A Divine Comedy

_And here we are for another round. Thanks for the support thus far! In this chapter, you're going to meet the OC a bit better, and get to know the grumpasaurus she is. Admittedly, it's actually pretty fun, if not challenging to write this character, so I hope you enjoy her as much as I do. That said, from here forth the chapters will be in 3rd person. Enjoy!_

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 **A Divine Comedy**

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Drip… drip… drip…

An unconscious form laid amongst buttercup flowers. The steady rise and fall of their chest the only indication that they were amongst the living. Heavy purple bags sat puffy underneath eyes as they fluttered with undisturbed unconsciousness. Soon, the faint light that came from above caused eyes to clench hard as the individual grimaced in discomfort. A low, feminine groan exited them.

Green eyes opened to the world above and filled with tears at the concentrated light that shone down. A bruised arm came up and covered them. A raspy, broken voice then called out, rising in a confused pitch, "…Why the Hell did I Do That?"

Drip… drip… drip…

Nobody answered.

With a groan and a glower, the woman sat up, her short black hair falling into her face. Glower still in place, she quickly puffed her cheeks out and began to try and blow it out of her eyes. Bruised arms settled on top of her ripped jean-covered knees after she pulled them in front of her chest. Reaching behind her, she felt around the back of her head. Her features fell to a neutral frown. There was no blood, or matting of her hair from a head injury. Her brows furrowed in confusion. Instead, she just felt the soreness of an entire body bruise, not unlike the feeling from a really intense workout. Dropping her hand, the stranger to looked ahead to stare about the cavern she was now stuck inside.

Her gaze rose to the ceiling, the light slowly dimming above; the universal signal for the arrival of night. She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, brows drawn together as she whispered with a sigh, "So did I die, or not?"

Once more, no one answered.

"…." The silence grew heavy, filling with incredulity before she pushed to her feet. She clenched her hands into fists and gnashed her teeth to bite back a groan as her forehead creased with the effort. Once on her feet, she swayed. A slight stumble giving way before she gave a huffing breath; heat from the soreness raked through her and her head swam as black spots appeared in her vision. She hunched to rest her hands on her knees, giving a strained grunt of, "Well, regardless, this hurts like hell." Before she shut her eyes as she forced herself to rise, "Up you go, Dez." Opening her eyes, she managed to her full height, "Wooo dizzy dizzy… busy?" The black spots faded as she took in her better purview of her surroundings. The cavern was wide, and ever sighing. Dez cast her gaze up, murmuring simply, "S'like being in the bottom of a termite mound…"

The continuous 'drip… drip… drip' from an overhanging stalactite was still the only response to her odd behavior. With hands set on her hips, she looked back up to the faint pinks, purples, and darker blues that could just barely be made out from the hole high above in the ceiling. Raising her hand, she put a finger over the hole visually and found it just barely the size of her thumb. It had been a long way down. She looked to the flower patch she stood in with her lips pursed, narrowed eyes tracing the broken stems and the wilted flowers that lay attached from where she had laid. As she feared not being able to get up, she refrained from taking a knee to inspect it more thoroughly. "Maybe…" She'd begin, but then fall silent, shaking her head once more and before she'd look back up and back around. Her eyes caught sight of the buttercups again, only for her to huff, stating darkly, as she looked over her shoulder at the back of her black long sleeves, "I probably got yellow shit all over my back now."

Without the ability to look fully down her own back though, Dez had no way to tell. With a defeated growl, she simply hung her head once more. "Okay, Think. Usually they say brimstone and fire for your case, or maybe pearly gates? I don't know. Perhaps purgatory? It was definitely too far down to survive…" She looked a final time back at the ceiling, "right?" With no verbal answer to be given in the air, she began to pull her legs sluggishly out of the flowerbed in order to get walking. She quickly made her way towards the right of the cavern where an opening seemed to lead out. She continued her pondering as she made her way to it..

"Or perhaps…" She'd muse aloud, "This is one of those trials, like the stories of old and legend for Rome and stuff. Now… there's a positive thought." Maybe she was a heroine about to be presented with some sort of ordeal or trial. With little thought other than a slight optimism on her face, she stepped further into the opening out.

Instead however, she came to a new cavern, the sound of dripping disappearing and an odd quiet air taking over. Her features fell back to a neutral regard as the quiet made it feel empty, further cavernous, and engulfing. Movement jerked her gaze to a small patch of land ahead that stirred, and much to her surprise; another golden flower began to show. It was slow at first, stretching out its green leaves and a bud appearing on top; before it opened and a fully bloomed buttercup with a white center stilled before her. What made her pause in her walking towards it though? The appearance of a human like face on it.

"What the fuck?" Ushered past her lips before she could stop it. Dez's eyes narrowed to small pinpoints and the corner of her lips pulling downwards quickly allows a scowl to color her face. A bright, happy smile seemed to paint the flower's features as it surveyed her, black beady eyes glinting with what seemed to be the sincerest of intents.

A male, but child-like voice ushered from the plant, "Howdy! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

The human stared on slightly aghast and open mouthed. Once recovered, her brows furrowing and lips pursed once more. A flower was talking to her. Sardonically, she managed to reply lowly, "I'm sure you are."

Despite her lips pulled tight now and a small scowl now on her face, the flower ignored the comment as it continued, "Hmm, you must be new to the Underground, aren't cha? I haven't' seen you before. Golly, you must be so confused…" As it looked her up and down, she mimicked it with a critical eye.

"Well, you look like you've been around so much you've damn near become attached to it." She breathed out off the cuff. The bitter woman glowered now, before she growled lowly, confusion just tinging her words, "What do you want, Bud?"

The flower opened its mouth, and paused. It seemed words finally caught up to Flowey and thus, it looked up, looking her up and down again, "I-… I don't know you…" A tinge of incredulity coated their young voice. Dez stood a bit taller at this point, setting her hands on her hips and squaring her shoulders, before the next words felt like a ton of bricks slamming into her head, "You're... not my friend."

For some reason, that stung, and thus, she quickly deflated. The human winced and her face melted into a blank slate. A silence hovered before she gave a heavy heave of her shoulders in a shrug, "Well tell you the truth, Petals. I'm not anyone's friend. Part of the problem, really." With the truth settled in the air, she'd begin to move past it, "But let's just ignore that and keep chugging along, shall we? Heaven or hell, sure doesn't seem like anything changes."

The silence in the wake of her words seemed to quickly grow so deep that she did a double take behind her. A gentle tugging in her chest caused her to turn gently on her foot once she was past the flower to see it glaring at her.

"Hell?" It questioned lowly, a squinting glare turned her way "Could it be possible that… you see this place for what it is?" A scowl contorted the flower's already strange face, "Could it be, you already know how things work down here?'"

The darker nature of the flower was seeping into its words. Transforming the tones into something grating, ragged, and contemptuous as its face grew more grotesque. Dez planted her feet as she turned fully to it and contemplated what was being said, face once more an unreadable blank slate from it's former tired scowl. With no reply, they continued to observe each other before the plant gave a full bob of its petaled head. The young male voice melted into a smooth, sinister murmur. It sounded more so like an adult, "Yes… I can see it within you- You know how it is. So let's…. just do it."

The pull in her chest intensified, and she inhaled sharply with a shudder and a pained grunt as something felt like it was being yanked out of her chest. An emptiness filled her senses, as she stumbled back in recoil. A dim light entered the room, drawing her gaze to it immediately. The dim purple light floated above her chest, making her scowl down at it. Upon further inspection, the scowl shifted to cautiously curious. A purple heart sat just before her, hovering and disconnected from anything. Brows shot up as she slowly moved to reach for it, she couldn't help it, it seemed like it was an extension of her to some degree…

The flower's dark timbre reverberated around the cavern now, all consuming and surrounding, yanking her attention from it and up to the incoming blackness that leaked towards her, "That heart is your soul, the very culmination of your being…" The surroundings around them began to darken, features of the cavern walls seemed to melt away. Dez's breathing soon became the only sound she could hear past his words. A cruel mirth colored his tones "As you can see, yours' is dim and weak. You're just begging to **die** , aren't you?" Another shudder rippled across the pale woman. She could hear the smile on his lips.

Finally, Dez peered at the flower and stiffened as she found that a drastic change had occurred. The hair on the back of her neck stood out on end. Fangs peaked out from its mouth, and its previous eyes had hollowed. Pinpoints of lights from the black depths peeked out from the darkness as the flower stared at her soul. An air of hunger seemed to fill his presence. Shifting slightly, she noted quickly the small dim heart seemed to move with her.

It appeared that at the presence of this odd… heart; the flower lost what mind it had. A quick, twitchy, jittery energy took to it as it flicked its gaze this way and that. Not that Dez could blame it, wary but absolute apathy coated her thoughts as she stared at it. A simple disconnect formed in her psyche once more as she stared on. Receding into herself, she watched as the over enthusiastic buttercup began to talk, "It's so weak that… that I can just take it… it's going to be so easy… unlike that brat… Yes yes, this will do fine..."

The pin points moved to her face, her brows shot up again and her lips pursed in puzzlement, "now Die."

The final word seemed to snap her attention from it to the dark surroundings, her brows furrowed in confusion, "But-" White pellets began to appear, her tone felt far away, "Aren't I already dead? Can I even die twice?" As she proceeded to not pay attention to the enemy that lay before her while her thoughts took the forefront of her attention, the air of danger muffled by it, the white-spinning pellets seemed to usher out from Flowey. She peered on curiously, and then looked back. It just said it wanted to kill her… would she dare risk it? Wait, could she even die, again, that is? Wasn't she already-

The pellets flew at her and she thus twisted to sidestep, her introspection costing her as one of the five bullets nicked the heart itself, right across the top right hump of the two lumped upside-down triangle, skirting it and then phasing through her body. A wide gash appeared across her right hip. Pain rushed into her senses and a startled yelp followed. The flower gave a vicious cackle as she stumbled with gritted teeth and wide eyes. The woman's brow creased in confusion and her mouth opened in sharp gasps as she shook her head in disbelief, "O-one cannot simply die twice." She'd weakly rationalize, looking ahead and struggling to make sense of this as she'd watch more pellets form above him.

"Shut up!" The weed snapped. Dez's features turned from confused shock to quick consternation as Flowey's sinister features enhanced. A snarling scowl took her face as Flowey continued, "I will not be taken as a minor threat from some stupid weakling!" More bullets began to form, this time around her, encircling her in a gapless wall. Apprehension forced her hunched form to twist this way and that, desperately looking for a way out as she clamped a hand on the wound of her hip. It quickly became coated in crimson, "Now **DIE**."

A small heat formed in her face as anger bled into her features, voice raising, "But I already di-" She was cut off as a light caught the corner of her eye and broke through the dark between them. It hit Flowey, the plant ripped from the ground upon contact and thrown by the force of it. The pellets around her vanished as the weed disappeared out of sight. The darkness coating the cavern still remained.

Panting, Dez looked around, and then back down, her soul bobbed ever so slightly. A nick now formed in it as a new individual made their way from the dark to stand in front of her.

Dez stared up into the goat like eyes that peered back down at her. She craned her head backwards as the dim light of her soul barely made the strange humanoid's features discernible. Slowly, the creature raised a hand and a feeling of peace invaded the tired woman's senses as they reached forward "H-hey…" The empty feeling in her chest lessened as though something was refilling it. The soul pressed back into her breast, drawing her attention as the light disappeared within her. The darkness receded, and her breathing came back in a shuddering gasp as the pain in her hip invaded her senses. Her world spun and she backed away, her foot catching a rock and her form falling back. She outstretched her free hand for balance and groped for a hold. A fuzzy hand quickly grasped her by the wrist as her body gave way to gravity and she landed on her rump.

"You poor creature, do not be afraid." A gentle, female voice murmured softly from the strange white and fuzzy creature. Dez caught the sound of worry within her voice as the warmth of her hand against her skin picked up on her senses, "I am not here to harm you."

The human's head swam as she listened, the soft puffing of her own breaths echoing around the cavern as the coppery scent of blood plumed into the air. A cold sweat broke out against her forehead, and her eyes suddenly felt ungodly heavy. She swayed from her spot on the ground, unable to lay on it fully as the creature holding her wrist above her head kept her upright all the while.

"'F-fraid?" She'd quietly question as her consciousness began to disappear, "Lady…" Her voice however faded, as once more, it all went black.

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 _Alright dearies! Let me know what you think, see you next chapter!_


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